day 2 trip report

What a roller coaster.


I started the day with 23k, I planned to play solidly for a while. The best laid plans of mice and men...

Two or three orbits in, Joe Cassidy in the 10 seat raises to 1500, I call in the BB with JTo. The flop is KQT with the QT of hearts. I check, Cassidy bets 2500 and I call. The turn is an offsuit seven. I check again, Cassidy shakes his head and bets 5k. I take a beat and push in for about 17 more. Cassidy goes into a deep tank, after a couple of minutes he folds K2 of hearts face up. As I clumsily stack my chips, he says "Oh my God, you bluffed me. You can't even stack your chips." I said "I didn't want a call, but I could beat king deuce."

A few orbits later, Frank Kassela raises to 1800 UTG, gets called twice. I put half my stack in from the BB with AKo. Kassela thinks for a minute or so and puts me in. With half of my kids out there, I'm forced to call. He has QQ and the first card off is a king. The board bricks out, and I double to around 60k. The 2nd caller claimed to have also folded AK, but I don't really believe him. Kassela kept going on about this hand for the rest of the time at the table.

After Kassela busted Cassidy (who died without fold equity holding 66 on an A998 board) I lost a chunk of chips playing AA the same way as I had just played the AK. JJ went in with me, and the first card off was a jack. I made a fourflush, but the board paired the turn. That dropped me to 40k, but I was gifted with 25k right before the end of the first level (yes, this is all in one level) when I flop a set on the T97 board and bet it, checked the 7 turn and pushed the Q river. A guy called his stack off with A9 (!>!?!!omgwtf?). Thanks. I broke with around 72k.

Before we played a hand in level 2, I moved. The new table was pretty decent, I had a good time there. I didn't pick up many cards, and absolutely nothing of note happened in the 2nd level except for when I doubled up a micro stack when he hit a king on the river for his K6 > my TT. I went to the next break with 67k.

I got over 80k though early in level 3. I raised in late position to 2800 (400 800 blinds) with A5o. The button moved in for less than 10k total. I knew I was behind, and I might not have had the proper odds, but I can't go folding in those spots or else I'll be taken advantage of. He had kings, and I spiked an ace on the turn. Game of skill it is.

I blinded off for a short bit, then moved to another new table. I lost a few chips playing a bit of longball with a garbage hand on a T74 all club flop, then folded to a checkraise on an offsuit J turn. I was down to 65k shortly before dinner when a couple of incredibly tough hands took me down to 33k. I opened in EP with JJ, I was called by a late position player, the cutoff and the big blind. The flop came QJ4, rainbow. The BB checked, I checked (greedy), LP checked and the cutoff bet. The BB called and I just called, hoping to trap the cutoff, who is an aggressive player. LP folded, and the turn was a king, putting a complete rainbow on the board. The BB checked and I led out with this card. I didn't really like the card for trapping the cutoff player, so it was time to value bet. The cutoff folded and the big blind moved in. This was not expected. I asked for a count and learned he covered the 41k or so I had left. It was a hell of a decision for me. His body language gave off strength, and not in the blatantly obvious way a bluff is "strong". I felt confident in ruling out 44, QQ and KK as possibilities, and I just didn't think he'd be giving off a vibe this strong with KQ or KJ. It took a while, but I finally folded and stormed off for a minute. When I came back, I learned that he indeed showed the AT. I avoided going broke.

On my BB that orbit, it was folded to the small blind who completed, and I rapped with Q6o. The flop was A63, with the A3 of hearts. He minbet, I called. The turn was an offsuit deuce. He bet 1700 now (still 400/800 blinds. I have busy levels sometimes) and I called. The river was an offsuit seven and he checked. I value bet the 6 now, which might not have been wise. He thought for a bit and called with Q7. Ugly.

After those 2 hands, dinner was due in less than 15 minutes, and tempted as I was to just nip out right there, I stayed in case I picked up aces. I was hoping to "tilt push" with aces or kings at the end of the level but only got garbage (which was probably a godo thing) and, as I mentioned, went to dinner with 33k and on massive donkey tilt.

I came back to the hotel room and showered. I felt the need to just wash all that just happened off. I munched on the pringles and the banana that was in the room, and talked to Kevin to calm down. It worked. I felt much better going back to the poker room. I'm fairly confident that if the dinner break did not occur when it did, I would not have made it through the day.

I doubled up in the fourth level of the day, taking 77 against AQd on a 678 two diamond board. I somehow managed to dodge the flush draw and doubled to 75k. I finished the level at 66 or so after a couple of steals went bad. One of them was mildly humorous: I raise the BB of the Tightest Player Ever. He calls me, and my QJo is pretty much dead. The flop comes A83. He checks, I bet, giving him a chance to fold his jacks or queens or whatever. He comes over top all in, and between him and the dealer they're bumbling the chips all over the place trying to count them. I say "It's fine, he hit the ace, I didn't, it's his pot." Fun.

The last level of the day was only an hour long, as we cut short play to ensure that enough players remained that the bubble would burst in day 3 (Friday). I was hoping to chip up to over 75k in the time, but managed to do better. The best pot came when the UTG player limped (AT guy), I limped in EPish with 32c (I was bored), the button limped (the player I hoped to trap in the AT hand) and the BB checked. The flop came J84 with two spades and one club. It was checked to me, I bet 4100, the button made it 10000 and it was folded to me. I raised it to 30000, and the button folded pretty quickly. I showed my hand, and he said "nice hand." He returned the favor to me a bit later. I called his raise with 88 on the button, then folded on the KQ5 flop, as he flipped 46.

It was an enjoyable time. After the day was over I went over to him and wished him luck and let him know I had fun playing with him. He told me he called with the flush draw because he was hoping to get rid of me because I was a bit of a thorn in his side.

My new table for Friday (table 86 seat 6) seems reasonable. I don't recognize anybody there, and although there are quite a few chips on there it seems reasonable. I have a 183k stack on my right, and there are 3 stacks with 130k, a couple others that are right around mine and 3 players who are pretty short. It's a good mix, we'll see how it works out Friday. I'm going to play it by ear and try to figure out my strategy early on.

In summation for the day: I'm ecstatic with how it went. I could have gone broke and I didn't. I could have tilted off my chips and didn't. I made a lot of very good decisions today, even in a few adverse times. And I feel real good about my chances Friday.

Wish me luck.